Christian Cross Has No Place On Los Angeles County Seal, Judge Says

This is ridiculous. California was initially developed by the Spanish leaving it with a rich cultural and architectural history reflective of its founding, including beautiful missions throughout the state. But, of course, the left remains fixated on not just wiping away God from the public square but erasing our history, as well. I hope the county appeals.

In a long-awaited ruling, a federal judge has sided with plaintiffs who argued it was unconstitutional for Los Angeles County supervisors to place a Christian cross on the county seal.

A divided Board of Supervisors voted in 2014 to reinstate the cross on top of a depiction of the San Gabriel Mission, which appears on the seal among other symbols of county history. They were sued by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and a group of religious leaders and scholars, who said placement of the cross on the seal unconstitutionally favored Christianity over other religions.

A decade earlier, the county had removed a cross from the seal — this one shown floating above the Hollywood Bowl — after being threatened with a similar lawsuit. The proponents of reinstating the cross on the seal argued it was needed to make the image of the mission historically and architecturally accurate. When the seal was redesigned in 2004, there was no cross on top of the mission, as it had gone missing during earthquake retrofitting. The cross was later restored atop the building.

In a 55-page ruling released Thursday, U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder wrote that the addition of the cross ”carries with it an aura of prestige, authority, and approval. By singling out the cross for addition to the seal, the county necessarily lends its prestige and approval to a depiction of one faith’s sectarian imagery.

[T]he federal district court’s order that enjoins the county from implementing the county seal with a cross atop the San Gabriel Mission “ignores historical and architectural reality.”

“The court failed to see that the Board corrected the inaccurate depiction of the San Gabriel Mission on the seal with an architecturally accurate version that featured a small cross – which of course the mission has,” he said. “As any California fourth-grade student knows, the San Gabriel Mission is an important icon to the region and the birthplace of Los Angeles County.”

Antonovich said he would support appealing the decision because similar images of municipal seals are not unique to Los Angeles County. In fact, two California counties, Ventura and San Benito, have missions with crosses on their seals, as does the City of San Luis Obispo.